Leading drivers from the FIA European Rally Championship will be taking on an all-new challenge this week when they contest JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion. 

The penultimate event of the all-action ERC season from 30 August to 1 September, JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion marks the championship’s return to the UK for the first time since 2016 and the first visit to Wales since 1996. 

While Hayden Paddon, the defending champion and current points leader, is a former Rali Ceredigion winner, the asphalt-only contest represents unchartered territory for his main title rivals, Mathieu Franceschi and Miko Marczyk, plus Simone Tempestini, who is set to complete a late deal to tackle the Aberystwyth-based round. 

“The stages are different to anything else we have in the championship,” said New Zealander Paddon, who pilots a Pirelli-equipped Hyundai i20 N Rally2 for BRC Racing Team. “A lot of narrow lanes, very undulating, smooth but you’re always moving and jumping, it’s almost a bit like a Finland rally on Tarmac, apart from being narrower. And the weather will always play a part in Wales, there will be a lot of challenges.” 

Paddon heads to Wales 14 points ahead of Michelin-backed Franceschi. But with 70 points still on offer across the remaining two rounds, the chase for the coveted ERC crown remains wide open. 

As well as Franceschi, Marczyk, Paddon and the soon-to-be-announced Tempestini, several other ERC Rally2 regulars will be taking on the challenge of JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion. They include Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy’s Jon Armstrong, Team MRF Tyres’ Andrea Mabellini (Italy), Philip Allen (Northern Ireland) and Albert von Thurn und Taxis (Germany). 

Up against the seasoned ERC campaigners are several leading runners from the Probite British Rally Championship. FIA Junior WRC champion William Creighton leads the standings with Chris Ingram, the 2019 ERC title winner, one point behind followed by Keith Cronin and ERC points-scorer Osian Pryce, the Rali Ceredigion winner in 2019 and 2023. 

The first Rali Ceredigion to count for the ERC begins on Friday 30 August with the Green4Wales Cwmerfyn Free Practice and Qualifying Stage followed by two runs of the lengthened super special through the streets of host town Aberystwyth.  

ETT Trailers Brechfa and Signature Systems Llyn Brianne are two all-new stages included on the Saturday itinerary in addition to Caws Cenarth Nant y Moch and a return to Aberystwyth for two runs of the LAS Recycling and Get Jerky-backed super special.  

The deciding leg on Sunday 1 September features the all-new DC Autos Bethania test complete with its mix of single and double-width roads, while Spencer Quantum Hafod forms the event-closing Power Stage. 

JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion 2024: the key numbers
Stages: 14
Competitive distance: 184.16 kilometres
Total distance: 652.43 kilometres
 

Tune in to Motorsport UK TV to catch all the live coverage from 30 August.